On March 1st I posted about a listing on eBay for what was thought to be a bronze prototype of a Lionel Turbine engine for a “Buy It Now” price of $50,000. I was curious as to how this piece was obtained so I emailed the seller, Trains ‘n Hobbies. The owner of Trains ‘n Hobbies, John E. Charvat, was kind enough to send a response to my inquiry. Here’s John’s response:
I am the owner of Trains 'n Hobbies opened in Oceanside, New York in 1979. We moved to Rockville Centre, NY in 1983, and have been there since. We primarily deal in the smaller scales, especially HO, but do handle the larger scales, including Lionel. Like most stores, we buy and sell used of all scales.
One day (in 1992) a man in his twenties came in and asked if we bought used Lionel and I answered in the affirmative. He said he had a brass Lionel loco. I told him that this was unlikely, since Lionel had not made brass models since the WWI era. He insisted and I told him to bring it in. I thought no more about it until he returned several days later with a package under his arm and said he had the brass Lionel loco that we talked about. I had visions of a Number 1 or an early trolley, but when he opened the package my heart sank. Not another Turbine! I looked at it and thought that maybe someone had painted it brass to resemble an HO import. I told him that this was not in good shape and would be useful only for parts. I offered him a very low figure since as I told him; in addition to the condition Turbines were not particularly scarce. After a protest, (I was ready to let him walk) he relented.
I took the loco down to my shop, and was puzzled to discover that the 'paint' wouldn't come off. I took it apart and noticed that the inside looked handmade with screwed together frame pieces and other oddities: the smoke chamber was an aluminum tube; the apron (rear ladder) was screwed on rather than peened over; the E-unit lever was over the drivers; and many of the parts including the motor field were bronze. The basic setup was the same as other horizontal motored locos, such as the early 726, and the motor looks like an Atomic motor, but there are no markings anywhere on the piece. Then it dawned on me that Lionel had built prototypes out of bronze, and this could be one of them.
I was later told that some salesman's samples were also made of bronze, but haven't been able to confirm that. In either case, no bronze Turbine has appeared up 'til now, that I know of. I wrote a letter to Lionel and Greenberg and neither of them could affirm or deny the existence of a Turbine Prototype. I have been unable to track down any information on this very unusual loco and have listed it twice to arouse some interest, hoping that someone will have some knowledge and be able to give me some insight or leads on how to find out more.
View photos here.
If anyone has any information about this piece, please contact John at trainsnhobbies@netzero.net. By the way, the piece didn't sell and has since been re-listed on eBay.
There are a few live auctions taking place this weekend and during the month of October no fewer than 7 are scheduled. Some will conduct their auctions using 
If you own a large hobby shop, thinking of starting one or thinking of starting a model train related eBay business you'll want to check out an auction on eBay listing over 1 million Lionel parts for sale for a starting bid of $200k. According to the auction listing there are 3 full sized container boxes full of Lionel parts dated from the 1920's through the 1990's. The seller is an eBay "Power Seller" but apparently has had a change of heart and is getting out of the Lionel parts business. The collection is located outside of Chicago and the seller is offering to pay 50% of airfare and lodging for any serious buyers wanting to inspect the collection. Check out the auction details 
